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Home » The Biden prisoner exchange deal

The Biden prisoner exchange deal

The New Neo Posted on by

The non-art of this prisoner exchange deal:

Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who was held for months in Russian prisons on drug charges, was released Thursday in a one-for-one prisoner swap for international arms dealer Viktor Bout, bringing an end to an ordeal that sparked intensive high-level negotiations between the U.S. and the Kremlin to secure her freedom…

To secure Griner’s release, the president ordered Bout to be freed and returned to Russia. Mr. Biden signed the commutation order cutting short Bout’s 25-year federal prison sentence.

Notably, the Griner-for-Bout exchange leaves retired U.S. Marine Paul Whelan imprisoned in Russia. Whelan has been in Russian custody for nearly four years. He was convicted on espionage charges that the U.S. has called false.

Griner’s charges were not false, although her sentence was ridiculously long compared to her offense. Her ordeal has lasted months, whereas Whelan has been incarcerated almost four years on false charges. And of course, Griner is a black lesbian professional basketball player whereas Whelan is a white man and former Marine.

Biden and officials mentioned Whelan this way:

“We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan,” Mr. Biden said Thursday, adding “we will never give up” on securing his release. U.S. officials told reporters that it became clear in talks with the Russians that the prospect of securing the release of both Griner and Whelan in exchange for Bout was a nonstarter, with one saying the U.S. had was “a choice between bringing home one particular American — Brittney Griner — or bringing home none.”

That is written so poorly it’s impossible to tell what it means – although maybe that’s the point. It seems Biden is saying Russia wouldn’t release both and so they had to settle for one. And another official seems to be indicating that the Russians took Whelan off the table in the negotiations, and perhaps that’s even true although it’s hard to trust anything this administration says. This article indicates the same – that the Russians have refused to negotiate for Whelan’s release, perhaps because he’s held on (false) espionage charges rather than drug charges as Griner was.

So, if that’s the way it actually went, instead of holding out the Biden administration gave in and did what Russia is purported to have wanted and gave up Bout in order to get Griner and not Whelan. And Bout is another kettle of fish entirely:

Bout, who was most recently held at a federal prison in Marion, Illinois, was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Agency in Thailand following a sting operation in 2008. He was convicted of conspiring to kill Americans and began his 25-year sentence a decade ago.

Whelan’s family mentioned that this is the second time Whelan has been passed over in a deal. I wonder who the Russians are saving him for.

ADDENDUM: More on Bout here:

Part of his 2012 conviction in a New York federal court was for attempting to buy and sell antiaircraft missiles to terrorist organizations for use against passenger jets…

“He was finally brought to justice in an American court,” successful prosecuting attorney Preet Bharara said at the time, “for agreeing to provide a staggering number of military-grade weapons to an avowed terrorist organization committed to killing Americans.”

He was convicted ten years ago, and Russia has been trying all that time to get him released. Seems like they just succeeded. Perhaps Griner was convicted for that very purpose – to serve as bait for this big fish. I think that’s exactly what happened, and it was irresistible to the Biden crew.

Comments

The Biden prisoner exchange deal — 38 Comments

  3. As suggested above, this has everything to do with identity, the administration well knowing that acting on behalf of a member of a privileged group (or rather two) would bring massively favorable coverage from the media. That Griner is anti-American (whilst also privileged) while Bout is an unsavory character (to say the least) simply increases the ghastliness of this whole affair.

  5. Don’t worry, give it a month and Griner will pick up where she left off, bashing America, kneeling during the Anthem, etc. etc. She’s a POS.

  6. So do we now have someone in US custody of higher value to Russia than “The Merchant of Death”, whom we could exchange for Whelan? Or did we already spend our best leverage on Britney Griner?

    I fear the latter, meaning that Whelan is going to go down the memory hole pronto…

  7. Straight-up trade:

    Swap one Amazonian Black Lesbian for one Merchant of Death.

    Biden can’t wait to hug/sniff Griner in welcome home ceremony.

  8. Neo wrote: “He was convicted ten years ago, and Russia has been trying all that time to get him released. Seems like they just succeeded. Perhaps Griner was convicted for that very purpose – to serve as bait for this big fish. I think that’s exactly what happened, and it was irresistible to the Biden crew.”

    Neo, this passes the smell test for me, but I still can’t get the awful taste of this deal out of my mouth – an America-bashing entertainer who actually did violate the law of a sovereign nation for an int’l arms dealer lawfully convicted of heinous crimes. I can’t tell you how many American citizens to whom I had to explain that “X is a sovereign nation with its own sovereign laws and the US Embassy can’t interfere yada yada yada.”

    I have been in prisons all over the world (though not a Russian prison), and have been the lead negotiator in prisoner releases. I know how this works. Unfortunately, I think you have the right of it, but I still don’t think it would have happened except under a rotten, corrupt regime such as we sadly have in the US. And I believe that Putin keenly understood this and fully comprehended the situation.

    This deal makes me sick to my stomach, as if I needed one more reason to utterly detest the Biden regime.

  9. I have little doubt that Biden and his administration value Griner far more than they do Whelan. In fact, I doubt if they care about Whelan’s fate at all.

    As for the trade, Black America hating lesbian VS White American Marine?

    Come on Man! It’s not even a contest.

  11. Griner’s ridiculously long sentence was the bait to get Biden to cave on trading the Merchant of Death for her.

    Meanwhile the US calls the charges and conviction of Whelan false, and, I think, acknowledges that Griner’s offense is true.

  13. I’m still lighting candles, metaphorically, for Otto Warmbier, the American college student, who may or may not have stolen a poster while in North Korea, and was left to rot in the Norko hellhole by the Obama administration.

    Under Trump, Warmbier was returned to America — unfortunately, as a brain-dead vegetable who died shortly thereafter. We probably will never know what actually happened.

    RIP Otto Warmbier.

  14. Even back when I routinely got out of the country and did aid work there were a bunch of countries we knew as Hostage-Takers. Where if you were a Westerner or other “unfavored” they would grab you on any charge they could and lock you up, storing you as insurance for a bargain. Russia was always one of those, as are others like North Korea, Iran, Zimbabwe, Cuba, and others. I made a decision I would never, ever go to a hostage taking country. Certainly not without the protection of diplomatic seal and some firearms.

    Neo and Telemachus is right. Moreover Griner’s idiocy had to have been like Christmas to some FSB and SVR thugs.

    This is a deal that should never have happened. Certainly not for Griner. Whelan deserved to come home.

    And yes, Huxley is right. Whatever Otto Wambler was or wasn’t guilty of, he did not deserve what happened to him.

    But what chills my blood is how similar it is to what has happened over here with the Jan 6th prisoners. At this stage the treatment of many of them wouldn’t be justified even if they shot a pistol into the ceiling and screamed Allahu Ackbar while doing so. And the Left tacitly agrees given how Puerto Rican terrorists got off with much less than is being meted out now.

  15. specially on the eve of a conflict, you do not dangle bait before them,

    but why does the saudis see use in victor bout, we know he was used in bosnia to ferry weapons from iran for a sudanese company,

  17. “How about this exchange, President Putin?”, a Biden admin negotiator didn’t say, “You release Paul Whelan to us and we don’t give ATACMS missiles to Ukraine. Otherwise? Well, think it through.”

  18. question, why did the Russians not release whelan, perhaps because he was an intelligence asset, he was other than honorably discharged, yet he was working security for borg warner,

  19. miguel cervantes:

    Because Whelan’s a bargaining chip the Russians can keep to exchange for more important catch-and-release fish from the US. And because the Russians knew they didn’t have to spend their valuable Whelan chip to get Bout back. They knew the weak Biden administration would release Bout for Griner if they held out a while and refused to release Whelan.

    The Russians don’t give a rat’s ass whether Whelan is guilty or innocent.

  20. Remember when President Hopenchange (“The One”) swapped our A.W.O.L. deserter for five of their Taliban bigwigs? I do.

  21. @ Nonapod & miguel:

    At this point in time, the Wikipedia article still says that the Russians offered either Griner or Whelan:
    “Family members said Whelan had been told that he had been arrested to be exchanged for a Russian prisoner in the United States, mentioning Konstantin Yaroshenko (who was released in return for American Trevor Reed), Viktor Bout, or Roman Seleznev.[41] On July 27, 2022, it was announced that President Joe Biden had authorized a trade for Whelan and basketball star Brittney Griner, who was arrested in Russia in February on drug charges, in exchange for convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout.[42] After negotiations, only Griner was exchanged for Bout on December 8, 2022.”

    Let’s see what it says tomorrow after someone reads the NBC stealth edited story.

    The substack post by Schachtel has several interesting comments puzzling over some of the oddities of Whelan’s situation, and links to this Daily Mail article, for those who are interested. As usual, it has more pictures per inch than any other media report.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11517949/Paul-Whelan-double-crossed-FSB-agent-thought-friend.html

  22. Zerohedge mentioned another American who was left behind.
    There were several stories about him earlier in the year, but Newsweek has the most up-to-date post.

    https://www.newsweek.com/who-marc-fogel-american-detained-russia-brittney-griner-1765757

    But another name, one that has not garnered as much attention as Griner and Whelan, was also highlighted on social media in light of Griner’s release.

    “Please don’t forget about Marc Fogel,” Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, tweeted Thursday. “I knew Marc when I was U.S. Ambassador to Russia. He was a teacher to many of our diplomats and soldiers. He is a real patriot. We must fight for his release as well.”

    Fogel worked as a history teacher for years at the Anglo-American School in Moscow, where his students included the children of U.S. diplomats, CNN reported.

    He was arrested in August 2021 at a Moscow airport after entering the country with roughly 17 grams of cannabis that his family and lawyer said was prescribed by a doctor in the U.S. to treat chronic pain. His case holds an interesting parallel to that of Griner, who was arrested in February this year for allegedly possessing cannabis oil when she arrived in Moscow.

    I understand the allegedly is pro forma; it’s pretty much been admitted she had the pot, which (per Wikipedia) was found in her luggage by customs officials.

    Duh.

    As TR said on the open thread – very passionately – “Please read the foreign country’s laws on illegal drugs before you travel there, and then DON’T TAKE ANY DRUGS THERE.”

    The Wiki article also mentions a more nuanced negotiation than the one-for-one only deal that Biden says Russia gave him.

    On July 27, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden approved a possible trade for Griner and Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018 for espionage in Moscow, and sentenced to 16 years in prison, in exchange for Bout.[123] The possibility of an exchange was further complicated when the Russians demanded the inclusion of convicted assassin Vadim Krasikov,[124] who is serving a life term for an assassination in Germany, in the negotiations.[125]

    I probably won’t remember to check back and see if it also gets changed to match the NBC Party Line.

  24. Is there a positive attraction to the vile? If, given two possibilities of equal objective merit, would Obama/Biden pick the one which stinks morally?

  26. There is an amazing (to me at least) parallel between this trade and the Obama trade for the American deserter. In each case serious enemies were traded for American nonentities. I assume there is more to these stories than the obvious.

  28. When it came time to play chicken at the Bridge of Spies, Biden caved and walked away with only Frederic Pryor. Pathetic and par for his mini golf course.

  29. Mike K:

    The Griner trade was very bad, but the Bergdahl trade was worse. A deserter is worse than an America-hating female basketball player, and 5 terrorist leaders are worse than one terrorist gun-supplier.

  32. The Griner trade was very bad, but the Bergdahl trade was worse.

    It’s a reasonable inference that the characters involved in negotiating the Bergdahl trade (including BO) don’t disapprove of what he did (or have any thought for the soldiers who lost their lives looking for the bum).

  33. The Russians don’t give a rat’s ass whether Whelan is guilty or innocent.

    Whelan is not the sort of person Anthony Blinken cares about.

  34. The Putin Fan Base (sadly consisting of mainly people on the Right) will be cheering this “deal”.

  36. Did Biden actually say Griner “represents the best about America”?
    Hoo boy have we dropped our standards.
    Not surprised considering she hits the “intersectionality trifecta” for the Biden agenda–black, female, gay!

  37. these exchanges are assymetrical, abel for powers, i don’t remember who they traded the chapmans for, but they wanted bout in play, he had some favors owed,
    that’s why prince salman got involved, unita, bosnia, mobutu,

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